New York Legislators Demand Mandatory Black History Education

State Sen. Jesse Hamilton and Assemblywoman Diana Richardson are trying to make a change.

Last week, we reported on a New York City principal who is being investigated for “explosive complaints from students and staff at a Bronx school saying their principal barred an English teacher from delving into Black-history lessons — and targeted Black teachers and students for abuse.”

Intermediate School 224 Principal Patricia Catania, who is white, has worked for New York City schools for 26 years, and she has been the principal of IS 224 since December 2016. Eight current or former employees and five students have accused Catania of not allowing any lessons about Black history — even though the school reportedly is 95% Black and Hispanic. The Department of Education in New York confirmed there is an investigation about Catania. In the meantime, Brooklyn legislators are demanding mandatory Black history education to avoid principals like her.

The New York Daily News reports, “State Sen. Jesse Hamilton and Assemblywoman Diana Richardson, both Brooklyn Democrats, said they want to see the legislation reach the governor’s desk in the coming weeks. ‘We will not allow Black history to be erased, to be denigrated, or to be put to the sidelines by ignorance,’ Hamilton said during the demonstration outside Dr. Betty Shabazz School in Brownsville.”

The anti-Black principal in the Bronx is just one of many examples in the New York City. Malcolm Xavier Combs, 17, was told at his Queens school that he could not print his first name and middle initial on a senior sweatshirt — which he purchased — because it would read Malcolm X. Just last week, a PTA co-president of Public School 118 in Brooklyn apologized for using a Black face to promote a 1920s-themed fund-raiser.

Hopefully, the Black history education legislation from Hamilton and Richardson will get some traction. For anyone who thinks New York City is a loving melting pot of progressives — think again.